Archives

Categories

Search

Follow

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. It means time for grilling, corn on the cob, homemade ice cream, swimming, and lots {and LOTS} of family. And fireworks!? Come on! Life can’t get much better!

This year, the hubby and I celebrate in a new place. I can’t wait to see fireworks over the mountains! And even better, the in-laws are coming out for a visit over the 4th.

I absolutely love decorating for any and all holidays, but since getting married and downsizing for a move across the country, I have almost zero 4th of July decorations! FOR SHAME! So I decided to make some!

Here are the supplies you will need for this ruffled patriotic wreath:

A pool noodle. {You can find them for $1 at the dollar store!}

Duct tape

Felt {I used 7 red, 7 white, and 5 blue at $0.34 at Joann}

Masking tape

Pins

Scissors

Tape measure {if you are slightly OCD like me!}

First, cut up all your felt into 2″x2″ squares. No need to be perfect here. I just eyeballed it. They were pretty much uniform but not perfectly.

Now take your pool noodle and curl it into a circle. Use the duct tape to tape the ends together into a wreath shape. Yay! Now you have a super cheap wreath ring! Instead of spending $9 on one you only spent $1!

Measure off and tape 8 sections around 3/4 of the ring. {Or just eyeball it if you aren’t OCD.} These will be your red and white stripes. Remember, the inside of the noodle is smaller than the outside so your sections will be wider on the outside and taper in on the inside. The last 1/4 will be your blue section.

Take one square of felt and fold it in half, point to point, turning it into a triangle. Then take the other 2 points and fold it in half again, making it an even smaller triangle. It should look like the above pictures.

Place your folded felt onto your noodle ring {ha!} in one of the taped off striped areas. Push one of your pins through the point of the felt and into the ring.

Make a square with your folded felt as the base of your ruffles.

Continue to work in rows, folding back the areas that are already pinned to place a new folded felt triangle.

Continue to do this all the way around, alternating red and white stripes and filling the last 1/4 with blue felt. You don’t need to fill up the entire ring, just enough that you won’t see the ring when it is hanging on your door. You don’t need to cover the back. If you don’t it helps it to hang flat.

Remember to reserve a few squares of white in order to make your stars!

Cut out some stars from your reserved white felt. I chose to do 5 because I was getting lazy.

Once you have arranged where you want them in your blue section, pin them in as well.

Push the pin into the noodle, but not as deep as the felt ruffles. It will hold them securely without loosing their shape!

And now you are all done! Isn’t it gorgeous? I hung mine on my door with a 3M hook, but you could also just as easily glue a ribbon on it or use a wreath hanger. I was going to use mine, but it is lost somewhere in the Christmas stuff.

Grand total for this beautiful little piece of patriotic flair? $10.

Now I just need to come up with some other 4th of July decorations! Any ideas??